Hi,
I had a Handiquilter Avante for 5 years and put over 28 million stitches on it without any problems. I sold it and upgraded to a Mille in 2014. My dealer for Handiquiter was less than an hour away as is an APQS dealer. I chose to go with my Mille because I wanted a machine that could handle the quilting I do and one that I could fix myself and not have to possibly ship it back to the factory when there is a major problem. Service and support with APQS is excellent. Regarding bobbins I have had M style in both machines, wind my own bobbins and adjust very little in my tension unless I change thread types, then a little tweaking works. Either machine may be prefect for you but service from the factory is better with APQS than it was with Handiquilter for me.
Debi

I'm in. Jewel tones and 2 1/2 inch strips. Those of us in Canada or outside the US, will need to send money so postage can be applied at your end. Do you have PayPal account or a money order could be included with our strip set so you are not out the postage sending our bundle back.

Hi Lori
I have red snappers but I think the principal is the same to make the casing sleeve. I measured carefully along the edge of the leader and folded over the edge the measurement that they recommended. I pinned this so it was secure and then attached my side clamps to the ends to try to keep the leader as taunt as possible. I used my machine to stitch along the edge to make the casing. It is a little slow going as you stop and remove the pins. I tried to keep my stitching as close to the edge as possible but it is still a little wavey. I did this to the 3 leaders and they seem to be working great. You'll love the leader grip concept. So fast and easy to load and take the quilt off the machine.
Debi

Hi Linda,
Finished my quilt top last night from the strip swap. I am in group 2 and received my strips on Feb. 8 and finished 33 days later. The pattern is called Rising Stars and is a strip club pattern from Cozy Quilt Designs. This whole experience was really outside my comfort zone as I like to organization placements of colour but I didn't even try. Really like the results. Thank you so much for hosting this swap. I will definitely take part again!
Debi

Linda, I received my strips on Friday in the middle of the snow storm. Sorry I didn't let you know sooner. I'm at a retreat this weekend and will start my quilt this evening. Beautiful colours. Thanks so much for such a great experience.